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Indiana’s Greatest Fried Hen Recipe

Why It Works

  • A heavy dose of black pepper creates the hen’s signature fiery chunk.
  • Frying in lard delivers a wealthy golden crust and tender, juicy meat.
  • Chopping a complete hen into twelve items, together with two again items, is Midwestern economic system at its most scrumptious.

I’ve joked that southeastern Indiana fried hen, which could be so peppery it’s nearly au poivre, is the Midwest’s reply to Nashville’s well-known scorching hen—a fiery thrill for people who think black pepper is spicy.

However the Hoosier custom is nothing to chuckle at. Southeastern Indiana—the place Colonel Sanders was born and largely raised, earlier than shifting to Kentucky as an grownup—is among the finest locations in America to eat fried hen.

The hen at Wagner’s Village Inn in Oldenburg has earned a James Beard America’s Traditional Award and has been featured within the New York Times. Reduce into a cost-effective twelve items, together with the again, and skillet-fried in lard, it’s particularly peppery and tender.

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After I moved again to my hometown of Cincinnati in 2019, I grew to become a daily at Wagner’s, simply throughout the Indiana border. In the course of the pandemic, as soon as we have been allowed to cross state strains once more, I started to deal with the hour-and-a-half round-trip like a mini-vacation—an excuse to get out of the home (and the state) that ended with a takeout fried hen feast, if I didn’t refill on drumsticks on the best way residence.

You can order the hen at Wagner’s à la carte, however the menu highlights the hen dinner, which comes with mashed potatoes, inexperienced beans, coleslaw, dinner rolls, and real-deal skillet gravy, and that’s the one approach I’ve ever finished it. The fixings add to the sensation {that a} meal at (or from) Wagner’s is an important day.

Final yr, Cincinnati journal requested me to put in writing an article about southeastern Indiana fried chicken, which gave me an excuse to go to a few of the area’s different fried hen establishments. All have been price attempting, however I ended up agreeing with the Indiana fuel station cashier who rolled his eyes once I requested the place I ought to go—in addition to Wagner’s. “Wagner’s is the fried hen place round right here,” he mentioned. “That’s the place I’d go, each time.” To my information, it’s the one southeastern Indiana fried hen spot that also makes use of lard and forged iron, whereas others have moved on to canola oil and deep fryers. No marvel it stands out.

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The primary time I finished by Wagner’s, then-owner Ginger Saccomando (who has since handed the restaurant on to her son, Dan) inspired me to stay my head within the kitchen. “Name forward subsequent time, and we’ll present you the entire course of,” she mentioned.

So, I did. Earlier this yr, I spent an hour with supervisor Patricia Caldwell and cook dinner Nolan Lecher, watching Nolan cook dinner whereas peppering the 2 Wagner’s veterans with questions on their well-known fried hen. Because it seems, I may describe the entire course of in a paragraph if I needed to. “We attempt to preserve it easy,” Nolan says. “That’s what works for us.” 

The Wagner’s Means

The Hen

The method begins with small (roughly three-pound) birds from O’Mara Meals in Greensburg, which provides many of the space’s fried hen eating places. Small birds cook dinner extra rapidly and evenly. O’Mara breaks them down into components, together with the again items, that are utilized in some regional fried hen traditions to make extra from the hen.

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The Seasonings

First, the cooks at Wagner’s toss the hen with salt and coarse-ground black pepper. Till not too long ago, they didn’t measure both one. After the Beard win and the ensuing surge in enterprise, they standardized the method with measuring cups—a 3D-printed scoop and what seemed to be the lid from some sort of plastic container, respectively. The seasoned hen can sit for as much as half-hour, nevertheless it doesn’t need to. “That isn’t a brine or something,” Nolan says. “It’s simply useful to get forward of the crowds on busy days.”

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Their pepper is an 18-mesh grind from a foodservice provider. You need to have the ability to discover a comparable product at your native grocery store. (I used McCormick’s coarse floor pepper.) Sure, I at all times, at all times freshly grind my very own pepper… besides once I’m making this fried hen, as a result of the scale and consistency of the grind is essential, if you would like a trustworthy imitation of Wagner’s.

They combine the seasoning into the hen, then add the hen to a tray of unseasoned flour and toss to coat it totally.

The Fats for Frying and the Frying Technique

In the meantime, they warmth lard—the pure, non-hydrogenated stuff—in 14-inch cast-iron skillets that date again to the restaurant’s 1968 opening. They don’t need the lard to be scorching once they add the hen, simply absolutely rendered, which suggests it’s lukewarm. In the event you’ve ever fried hen (or something) earlier than, you know the way uncommon that’s. Beginning the hen at a decrease temperature implies that it absorbs extra oil because it cooks, making a confit impact through the buildup to a high-heat fry.

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They elevate the hen out of the flour, shake off the surplus, crowd it into the skillets (two birds per pan), and crank up the warmth—as excessive because it goes. Because the fats heats, the hen begins to sizzle. They let the items cook dinner, nestled in opposition to one another and largely submerged, for about half an hour, or till the bottoms begins to brown. They flip and cook dinner for an additional 15 or 20 minutes.

Lastly, they take away the hen to a rack, the place it might probably sit for as much as half an hour. (They now not end it with the splash of water included in the Times Wagner’s-inspired recipe. “I feel that was only for present,” Nolan says.)

The Gravy

They pour the lard by means of cheesecloth earlier than reusing it, and so they accumulate the “crumbs,” or drippings, from the underside of the skillet to make a gravy—usually only a slurry of “crumbs” and water, thickened with a bit of flour, if crucial. All of the seasoning in gravy comes from the crumbs.

Recreating Wagner’s Hen at Residence

Easy, proper? However once I tried to recreate Wagner’s hen at residence, it didn’t work. I ruined skillet after skillet of hen, first overcooking it after which undercooking it as I attempted to seek out the best mixture of time and temperature. Lastly, I needed to acknowledge that the hen in my 12-inch skillet at residence was behaving in a different way than the hen within the 14-inch skillets on the extra environment friendly restaurant-grade vary at Wagner’s, it doesn’t matter what I attempted.

After dozens of assessments, I ended up at one thing nearer to plain fried hen process, frying at 300-325℉ for simply 15 to twenty minutes complete. (I used a skillet in tribute to Wagner’s and generations of fried hen cooks, however you need to use a big Dutch oven for the same consequence with out the splattery mess.) That isn’t precisely the best way they do it at Wagner’s, as detailed above, however in my residence kitchen, it produced essentially the most comparable consequence.

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I additionally changed the water within the gravy with hen inventory, standardized that recipe with a roux for a extra predictable and constant texture, and added dashes of soy sauce and apple cider vinegar for further taste. (If you need a plainer gravy, just like the one at Wagner’s, you’ll be able to simply strip all that out.)

In any other case, I selected custom, together with the lard, which is crucial to the golden shade, deep, savory taste, and stability of juicy meat and crackling crust that separates Wagner’s from different eating places.

Embrace that animal fats—don’t you dare substitute canola!—and what looks like approach an excessive amount of black pepper (till you chunk right into a drumstick), and also you’ll find yourself with one thing loads just like the fried hen that’s introduced the Instances, the Beards, and me, repeatedly, to a small city in southeastern Indiana.

Crispy, Peppery, and Unforgettable: Indiana’s Greatest Fried Hen Recipe



Cook dinner Mode
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  • 1 small entire hen (as shut to three kilos as potential)

  • 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus extra to style; for desk salt use half as a lot by quantity

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons coarse floor black pepper, corresponding to McCormick, or freshly floor pepper, if crucial, plus extra to style

  • 4 cups (2 kilos) pure, non-hydrogenated lard

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (9 ounces; 255g)

  • 1 1/2 cups (355ml) homemade chicken stock or retailer purchased low-sodium hen broth

  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce

  • 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

  • Coleslaw, mashed potatoes, braised green beans, and warm dinner rolls, for serving

  1. Utilizing a pointy knife, reduce the hen into 12 items: 2 breasts break up into 2 bone-in items every, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, 2 wings, and a couple of again items. You’ll be able to comply with this chicken butchering guide for all the things however the again items. After eradicating the legs, use kitchen shears to take away the again, together with the ribs, after which break up it in half crosswise. Trim off wing suggestions and discard or reserve for inventory.

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  2. Add hen items to a big bowl, season with salt and coarse floor black pepper, and toss the hen till evenly coated.

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  3. In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet or a big Dutch oven, add lard and warmth over medium-high warmth till it reaches 360℉ (180℃), 7 to 10 minutes. (Lard has a smoke level of 370℉ (185℃), so watch out to not go a lot greater than the advisable temperature.)

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  4. Whereas the lard is heating, dredge every bit of seasoned hen in flour, taking care to coat it totally. Shake off any extra and switch hen to a big plate. Reserve flour.

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  5. As soon as lard reaches 360℉ (180℃), fastidiously place the hen items within the scorching lard, skin-side-down. The pan will probably be crowded, however they need to slot in a single layer, with a bit of little bit of overlap. (An essential observe: In the event you’re utilizing a hen bigger than 3 kilos, you must fry in two batches.) Improve warmth to excessive.

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  6. Fry hen till golden brown on the pores and skin aspect, adjusting the warmth as wanted to maintain the temperature of the lard between 300 to 325°F (149 to 163℃), 8 to 10 minutes. Flip and cook dinner till the hen is browned on the opposite aspect and cooked by means of; breasts ought to attain 160°F, and the thighs and drumsticks 175°F, 5 to 10 minutes.

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  7. Utilizing tongs, fastidiously switch hen items as they end cooking to a wire rack set over a baking sheet, to empty extra lard. Let hen relaxation for 10 minutes earlier than consuming.

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  8. Whereas hen rests, fastidiously use a fine-mesh strainer to pressure lard right into a heatproof bowl or container, leaving the “crumbs” or “drippings” (browned bits of flour) and a skinny slick of lard on the underside of strainer. Dump the solids from the strainer again into the skillet.

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  9. Whisk 2 tablespoons of the remaining dredging flour into the drippings till mixed to kind a roux. Cook dinner over medium warmth, stirring continuously till flour is cooked by means of and smells flippantly nutty, 2 to three minutes.

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  10. Slowly pour in hen inventory, whisking repeatedly to forestall lumps. As soon as inventory is absolutely included, convey to a boil, then cut back the warmth to keep up a simmer. Cook dinner gravy, whisking sometimes, till thickened, about 5 minutes.

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  11. Take away gravy from warmth, then whisk in in soy sauce and vinegar. Season to style with salt and pepper if wanted. (The drippings and soy sauce will add seasoning, so you must solely want a modest quantity of salt and pepper, if any.)

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  12. Serve hen with coleslaw, mashed potatoes, inexperienced beans, and dinner rolls, or different easy sides. Pour gravy over the mashed potatoes and/or serve it alongside the hen in a small bowl or giant ramekin.

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Particular Tools

12-inch forged iron skillet or giant Dutch oven, fine-mesh strainer, tongs

Make-Forward and Storage

This hen must be loved instantly for finest outcomes. Retailer any leftovers in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days.

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